Mogadishu: Somalia's hardline Islamist Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said on Tuesday he had taken charge of the exiled opposition in Eritrea from its moderate chairman who attended UN-brokered peace talks last month.

"Now I Shaikh Hassan Dahir Aweys am the chairman of the executive committee as well as the general head," said Shaikh Dahir Aweys, who is on US and UN lists of Al Qaida associates.